jai JAIN

PROJECT REPORT ON “THE STUDY OF CONSUMER BUYING PREFERENCE TOWARDS

LAPTOPS”MASTER OF COMMERCE DEGREE

SEMESTER- IVACADEMIC YEAR: 2014-2015

SUBMITTED BY

MR. ARVIND JAINROLL NO: 10

N.E.S RATNAM COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE& COMMERCE N.E.S MARGE, BHANDUP (WEST), MUMBAI-400078.

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PROJECT REPORT ON“THE STUDY OF CONSUMER BUYING PREFERENCE TOWARDS LAPTOPS”

MASTER OF COMMERCE DEGREE

SEMESTER- IVACADEMIC YEAR: 2014-2015

SUBMITTED BY:

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER DEGREE OF COMMERCE

MR. ARVIND JAINROLL NO: 10

N.E.S RATNAM COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE& COMMERCE N.E.S MARG, BHANDUP (WEST), MUMBAI-400078.

N.E.S RATNAM COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE& COMMERCE, N.E.S MARG, BHANDUP (WEST), MUMBAI-400078.

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CERTIFICATEThis is to certify that the project report on “THE STUDY OF CONSUMER

BUYING PREFERENCE TOWARDS LAPTOPS” is bonafide record of project worked done by MR. ARVIND JAIN submitted in partual fulfillment of the requirement of the award of the Master of Commerce Degree University of Mumbai during the period of his study in the academic year 2014-15

COURSE CO-ORDINATOR:

INTERNAL EXAMINER:

EXTERNAL EXAMINER:

Principal Mrs. Rina Saha

DECLARATION3

I hereby declare that this Project Report entitled “THE STUDY OF

CONSUMER BUYING PREFERENCE TOWARDS LAPTOPS” submitted by me

for the award of Masters of Commerce Degree; University of Mumbai is a

record of Project work done by me during the year 2014-2015. This is entirely

my own work.

Name: ARVIND JAIN Roll No. 10 Signature

Place: Mumbai, Bhandup (W)Date: FEB 1st 2015.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported me doing the writing of this book. My deepest thanks to lecturer, Prof. DR.C KRISHNA KUMAR of the project for guiding & correcting various documents of mine with attention care. She/he has taken pains to go through my project and make necessary corrections as and when needed. I extended my thanks to the principal of, NES Ratnam College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Bhandup (w), for extending her support. My deep sense of gratitude to Principal Mrs. Rina Saha of NES Ratnam College of Arts, Science & Commerce for support & guidance. Thanks and appreciation to the helpful people at NES Ratnam College of Arts, Science & Commerce, for their support.I would also thank my institution and faculty members without whom this project have been a distant reality. I also extended my heartfelt thanks to my family and well-wishers.

Name of the Candidate MR. ARVIND JAIN

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.N

.Contents Page No.

1 Introduction 8-13

2 Company Profile 14-18

3 Objectives 19-20

4 Review of Literature 21-24

5 Research Methodology 25-28

6 Data Analysis & Interpretation 29-43

7 Findings & Suggestions 44-46

8 Limitations 47-48

9 Conclusion 49-50

10 Bibliography 51-52

11Annexure

Questionnaire53-56

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CHAPTER-ICHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION OF PROJECTINTRODUCTION OF PROJECT

INTRODUCTION:

CONSUMER BUYING PREFERENCE

The most crucial issue for the marketers is to identify the needs of the consumers. Only the

identification of needs is of no value unless and until this is transformed in to a meaningful 7

and appropriate satisfiers. For this whole process of converting needs into actual satisfaction

one needs to understand the complete make up of consumer’s mind, and this process is

known as consumer behavior. Let’s also discuss some of the definitions of consumer

behavior.

According to Schiffman and Kanuk “Consumer behavior encompasses all of the

behaviors that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and

disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs”.

Wells and Prensky defines that Consumer behavior is the study of consumers as they

exchange something of value for a product or service that satisfies their needs.

Hawkins, Best and Coney describes “The field of consumer behavior is the study of

individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and

dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these

processes have on the consumer and society”.

On the basis of above definitions, it can be concluded that consumer behavior is the

study of consumers regarding what they buy, when do they buy, from where they buy, how

frequently they buy, and how they use certain products. But the study does not stop here as it

also goes further to study the post purchase and evaluations of the consumers. So, it addresses

all the issues related from pre-purchase to post purchase behavior of the consumers.

The study regarding consumer behavior can be divided into two parts i.e. consumer

buying dynamics and dynamics of business buyers.

CONSUMERS’ BUYING DYNAMICS

Perception: Perception is the process by which an individual selects stimuli, organizes

information about those stimuli, and interprets the information. Perception poses powerful

implications for marketers. What is perceived by an individual, it determines how he or she

behaves? No consumer purchase can take place unless a consumer perceives that the product

or service will offer the benefits he or she needs. Accordingly, marketers must understand

how perception works in order to communicate successfully a product’s benefits. Regardless

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of the fact that a product is innovative or advertisement is effective, it will fail if it is not

perceived favorably by the potential consumers.

Learning: Learning is a continuous process by which individual acquires knowledge so that

it causes a permanent change in behavior. Learning is a kind of process that evolves over a

time and cannot be directly observed. When a person perceives new stimuli in the

environment, it is related with the existing pond of knowledge. Therefore, learning reflects

both current experiences and past back ground. Learning is essential to the consumption

process. In fact, consumer behaviour is largely learned behavior. We acquire most of our

attitudes, values, tastes, preferences, symbolic meanings and feeling through learning. Human

culture and social class, institutions such as schools and religious organizations, family,

friends, mass media and advertising provide learning experiences that influence the kind of

life style the consumers seek and the products they consume. Marketers spend considerable

effort to ensure that consumers learn of their existence as well as about their products.

Companies that make their consumers learn about their products and services in an effective

and efficient manner often obtain a long-term competitive advantage them that of their

competitors.

(c) Personality: Personality is defined as those inner psychological characteristics that both

determine and reflect how a person responds to his environmental stimuli. Personality is

enduring and ensures that a person’s responses are consistent over time. But personality

cannot be considered as a unified whole, for that purpose different personality traits are to be

studied by the marketers. For example, dogmatism is a personality trait that measures the

degree of rigidity among individuals. If a person is highly dogmatic, it’s very difficult to

convenience him regarding the innovative products and brands. They are move likely to

choose well established brands and can not be convinced by celebrities in the advertisements.

Rather these kinds of people are influenced by the authoritative appeals. On the contrary,

those who possess the trait of innovativeness are move receptive to new products, new

services and new practices. They are prone to newer experiments. There could be some other

personality traits like inner directed consumes and other directed consumers. So, on the basis

of these personality traits, the process of segmentation can effectively be performed.

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ORGANISATIONAL BUYING BEHAVIOUR

Industrial organizations do not engage only in selling. They also buy certain kind of

things like materials, manufactured parts, plant & equipments and different services etc.

Therefore, they require the services of other organizations and such organisations need to

understand these organizations’ needs, resources, polices, and buying procedures. So, in this

section we will examine few questions like-what is business market and how it differs from

consumer market, what kind of buying situations occur and who involves in the buying

business forecast etc. Let’s look into these questions one by one.

According to Webster and Wihel “Organizational buying is the decision-making

process by which formal organizations establish the need for purchased products and services

and identify, evaluate, and choose among alternative brands and suppliers”.

S.J. Skinner defines “Organizational buying behavior refers to the actions and

decision process of producers, resellers, and governments in deciding what products to buy”.

So, on the basis of above definitions it can be concluded that organizational buying is

the decision-making process in which one organization receives the resources from the other

organization and the providers identify the need for products and services and the receivers

identify, evaluate, and choose among alternative brands and suppliers.

THE ORGANIZATIONAL BUYING DECISION PROCESS

Because organizational decisions typically involve more individuals in more complex

decision tasks than household or individual decisions, marketing efforts to affect this process

are much more complex. There are different stages in the decision-making process from

problem recognition to post purchase performance evaluation. Let’s discuss these stages one

by one.

1. Problem Recognition: Like any other decision-making process, the first stage of

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the organizational buying decision process involves problem recognition, where one or more

persons recognize a problem. It may occur under a variety of circumstances. For example, the

sales manager and office manager of an office play a key role in recognizing the need to add

computers to their office. Recognition of this problem, however, can come up in several

ways. In this particular instance, a continuing problem between field sales agents and internal

administrative staff may lead the office manager and sales manager to recognize the problem.

The continuation of these sources of influence eventually leads to an increased level of

importance and the subsequent stage of information search.

2. Information Search: Information search can be both formal and informal. Site

visits to evaluate a potential vendor, laboratory tests of a new product or prototype, and

investigation of possible product specifications are part of formal information search.

Informal information search can occur during discussions with sales representatives, while

attending trade shows, or reading industry specific journals. Business buyers search for

information both to help make the best decision and to support their actions and

recommendations within the organization.

3. Evaluation and Selection: The evaluation of possible suppliers and selection of a

supplier often follows a two-stage decision process. The first stage is making the buyer’s

approved suppliers list. In this case, a conjunctive decision process is very common. Using

this kind of process, the organizations screen out potential suppliers that do not meet all its

criteria.

A second stage of organizational decision making could involve other decision rules

such as disjunctive and lexicographic etc. In the disjunctive decision rule, a minimum level of

performance for each important attribute is established. All brands that surpass the

performance for any key attribute are considered acceptable. The lexicographic decision rule

requires the business buyer to rank the criteria in order of importance. The buyer then selects

the supplier/product that performs best on the most important attribute. If two or more brands

tie on this attribute, they are evaluated on the second most important attribute. This process is

further complicated by the fact that different members of the decision-making unit have

different evaluation criteria.

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4. Purchase and Decision Implementation: Once the decision to buy from a

particular organization has been made, the method of purchase must be determined. From the

seller’s point of view, it means how and when they will get paid. In many cases, payment is

not made until delivery. Others involve progress payments. For a construction or builders’

firm that takes years, the method of payment is critical. On international basis, purchase

implementation and method of payment are even more critical.

5. Post purchase performance evaluation: In the final stage of business buying

division process, the new product’s performance is evaluated. The product’s actual

performance is compared to specifications and necessary adjustments are made of the product

that does not function as per expectations, the organization can ask the supplier to replace it.

At the same time, the supplier’s performance is also evaluated. If it is found to be

unacceptable, the buyer will seek corrective action from the supplier or he will search out for

a new supplier.

CHAPTER-IICHAPTER-II

COMPANY PROFILECOMPANY PROFILE(FEATURES OF LAPTOPS)(FEATURES OF LAPTOPS)

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The laptop computers are made for increasing the convenience of users.

The laptop computer is portable equipment. The laptop computers are portable due to light

weight. They have many features when they are compared with desktop computers. Laptop

computers are operated using built in batteries. These batteries are made for long life. The

laptop computer has a built in touch pad so that it can be operated without a mouse. The key

board and monitor have also been built in so that the equipment facilitates all functions.

The laptop computers are smaller and energy efficient. The parts used to make them are

expensive. The facilities provided in a laptop computer are similar to that of a desktop

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computer. Different versions of laptops are available in the market with large screens, high

capacity graphic cards etc.

The specialty in laptop computers includes light weight and lower energy consumption. Also

they are less noisy and easy to handle. Similar to desktop computers the laptop computers

include mother board, processor, hard disk, memory, graphic card, keyboard, mouse and

display device.

The major benefits of a laptop computer are that it is lighter in weight and can be used while

travelling. The disadvantage of a laptop computer is that it does not support for expansion or

upgrade. The laptop computers are equipped with built in wireless network cards. It

facilitates users to connect to the Internet without a cable.

Processor, graphics and memoryProcessor (CPU)

The processor, usually Intel or AMD, is the main brain of your computer and has the biggest effect on how your laptop will run.

Most are at least dual-core - two processors on one chip sharing the workload. Some Intel's processors use 'Hyper-threading', boosting the dual core processor to act like a quad-core one.

Processor clock speed (in GHz) has some impact on performance - the higher the figure, the faster the computer.

If you’re looking for a high-performance laptop, or something that'll last you for a good few years, go for a faster processor.

Memory (Ram)

Ram (random access memory) is your laptop's short-term memory, storing information while you're using the laptop (the hard drive is used for long-term file storage).

The amount of Ram your laptop has determines how many tasks it can accomplish simultaneously.

Aim for as much Ram as you can afford – ideally at least 4GB to make it easier to rip music while you're surfing the net, updating your security software, and sending and receiving emails.

With some laptops you can add more Ram later, but it’s more complicated than adding Ram to a desktop PC.

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Graphics card

Laptops come with either integrated or dedicated graphics.

Laptops with integrated graphics use a chunk of the laptop’s memory (Ram). This is fine if you’re just planning to do basic, everyday tasks, but if you want to play games or use video-editing software, for example, it’s best to go for a laptop with a separate graphics card, freeing up your Ram.

Expect to pay more for a laptop with a dedicated graphics card.

Laptop storage

Hard disk drive (HDD)

The hard disk provides memory for long-term data storage – measured in gigabytes (GB).

It stores the operating system and applications (programs) as well as files including music, photos and documents.

We recommend a minimum of 500GB hard disk space - storing video, high-resolution photos, music and software uses up a lot of space.

If in doubt, go for more hard drive space if you can afford it.

Solid state drive (SDD)

Solid state drives work like hard drives. There are no moving parts – so they don’t’ get as hot – and should help produce faster start-up times and processing, and also extend battery life. The downside is it doesn't offer as much space as a hard disk drive.

Many premium laptops, such as ultrabooks, have a solid state drive (the most common size is 128GB), or a hybrid of SSD and hard disk storage.

Hybrids often take the form of a 16GB solid state cache to boost loading speeds while keeping the larger storage capacity with the normal hard drive. In this case you can’t save files to the SSD.

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Optical drive

Some laptops come with a CD/DVD drive. All but the cheapest models include DVD burners as well as CD burners, so you can save to CD or DVD.

A DVD burner is useful for making your own videos and backing up large amounts of data - DVDs hold much more data than CDs.

Higher-end laptops include a Blu-ray drive so you can watch high-definition (HD) films on the move. Slot-load drives are preferable to tray-mounted drives, as they’re less prone to breakage on the move.

Many ultrabook, or ultra slim, laptops don’t have a disk drive, so they’re slimmer and lighter. With these laptops you may want to consider getting an external drive or cloud storage for backing up.

USB, HDMI and memory cardUSB is the most common type of connection. You’ll usually get two or three USB ports on a laptop so you can connect peripherals such as a mouse or external hard drive and save to a USB stick.

They may be USB 2 or the faster USB 3 ports, or a mix of the two.

An HDMI output lets you hook your laptop up to a TV.

Some laptops also have memory card slots, making it easy to get photos off of your camera’s memory card.

Wi-fi and Gigabit Ethernet

Most laptops include a port for connecting to the internet, either a wired 100Mbps or a faster gigabit ethernet connection.

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Most laptops will now use the latest 802.11n wireless protocol.

Laptop screen

A 15-inch screen is the average size for a laptop.

A desktop replacement-type laptop might come with a 17-inch display, while ultra-portables might go as low as the 11-inch mark. You will find options in between too.

If you're planning to use your laptop on the move, it might be worth considering a matte screen. Glossy displays tend to suffer from reflections.

Touchscreens are becoming the norm with Windows 8 laptops, certainly on mid and high-end models.

Keyboard

A laptop’s keyboard is smaller than a desktop computer’s - keys are closer together, and may also be smaller.

Many 13-inch models don’t have room for a separate number pad. It’s a good idea to try out a laptop’s keyboard before you buy if you can, to ensure you get one you're comfortable with.

Laptop battery life

The best standard laptops have a battery life of around five to six hours.

Larger, desktop replacement laptops may only last around three hours though, while the longest laptop battery life on the best ultraportable models runs closer to seven hours. Adjusting the power settings within the laptop can preserve the battery.

How important battery life is to you depends on where you are planning to use your laptop - if it's mainly at home near a power point, battery life isn’t top priority.

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CHAPTER-IIICHAPTER-III

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYOBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

OBJECTIVES

This research is based on the study of consumer buying preference towards laptops. The

objectives of my study are as follows:

1. To analyze the customer preference level associated with different laptops.

2. To find out the customer preference towards the various laptops.

3. To study the factors influences decision–making while purchasing a laptop.

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4. To know which advertising media puts more impact on the buying decision of con-

sumer.

CHAPTER-IVCHAPTER-IV

REVIEW OF LITERATUREREVIEW OF LITERATURE

19

Review of Literature:

The researcher made an attempt to collect information from the prior researches and relevant

studies conducted in the area of consumer behavior and buying preference so that the

important variables for the study could be identified and analyzed. The review of literature

has been presented in a summarized and precise manner.

Consumer Behaviour by Hawkins, Best, Coney and Mokherjee: The authors of the book

20

discussed various factors affecting consumer behaviour for buying such as demographic and

social influences (family and household), group influence, impact of advertising and internal

influences (learning, perception, attitude etc.).

Consumer Behaviour by Leslie Lazar and Schiffman: The authors suggested consumer

behaviour as individual differs as from group. The family decision for a purchase decision is

entirely different from individual decision making. The authors discussed various variables

that affect consumer purchase decision. The book focused on family life cycle and various

needs of consumer during different life stages. The family decision making process as a

group decision making is elaborated and it is recommended to segment the market according

to family need hierarchy.

Consumer Behaviour by Bitta and Della: The authors proposed that consumer behaviour

studies play an important role in deciding marketing segments and marketing strategies. The

authors recommended that consumer is often studied because certain discussions are

significantly affected by their behaviour or expected actions. For this reason such consumer

behaviour is said to be an applied discipline. Such applications can exist at two levels of

analysis. Market segmentation, consumer decision making and buying behaviour is

considered as core marketing activities in designing effective marketing strategies.

The micro perspective involves understanding consumers for the purpose of helping a firm or

organisation to accomplish its objectives. On the other hand macro or societal perspective

consumers collectively influence economic and social conditions within an entire society.

The authors discussed factors affecting consumer behaviour at micro and macro level for

making a purchase decision.

Consumer Behavior by Karunik and Schiffman: The book highlights dynamic business

environment is turbulent as never before and the service industry as promising as never

before. In this era of intense competition companies understand the customer is the king in

the market and success depends a lot on the efficiency of the managers in delivering the

promised product or services. The responsibility lies on the organisations to develop a

culture, ethics, responsibility, value and quality services should be offered to achieve higher 21

level of customer satisfaction. Dynamic consumer behaviour is required to analyse various

factors affecting consumer purchase decision directly or indirectly.

Consumer Behaviour by Batra, S, K & Kazmi,: The book has described consumer

decision making process, buyers black box and importance of consumer behaviour studies for

marketers in order to understand what satisfy the ultimate consumer. The book described

vital characteristics of Indian consumer and competitive advantages in Indian context for the

marketers. The consumer decision process, buying roles and consumer black box are

discussed in detail. The various steps evolving consumer decision making are linked with the

life stages. Young buyers, women and children considered as uprising consumers groups as a

part of competitive market situations.

Marketing Management by Philip Kotler: The customer is always considered as a core of

business activity. Author discussed in this book that marketing is only one factor in attracting

and keeping customers. Peter F. Drucker observed that a company‟s first task is “to create

customers.” Customer estimate will deliver the most value. The book highlighted consumer

decisions making process and buying roles. The book considered customers as value

maximiser within the bounds of search costs, limited knowledge, mobility and income.6

Services Marketing by C. Lovelock and J. Writz: The book emphasised on services

marketing as a broad area and places marketing issues within a broader general management

context while offering a balanced focused on close ties that link marketing, operations and

human resource marketing. It also relates the understanding of consumer behaviour function

to develop appropriate marketing strategy. Service triangle, feature of services and service

marketing strategies are discussed in this book with detailed explanation of service quality

model.

Services Marketing by Lovelock: The book is emphasised on advancements and challenges

in services marketing. The book discussed role of consumer in designing services, delivering

and performing quality service to the consumers for deriving customer satisfaction. The book

focused on complexity of designing service marketing strategies and establishing service

standards. Various threats and challenges in designing service marketing strategies have been

discussed with required solutions in turbulent marketing situations.

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Services Marketing by Zeithaml and Bitner: The book emphasised on various ingredients

of services marketing such as consumer behaviour in services, services designs and

standards, delivering and performing service and managing service promises. The book

focused on various challenges and issues of service marketing, the GAPS model of service

quality and customer defined service standards. The book discussed service quality models

and service preference models in detail. The book also recommended uniformity in quality

standards should be implemented.

CHAPTER-VCHAPTER-V

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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Research Methodology:

This project is prepared with the help of theoretical knowledge as well as practical

knowledge & a crumb of advises & suggestions from the concerned professors. As far as

practical is concerned, all the information about the companies information available on

internet. The theoretical pert taken from the various books & magazines available on this

subject. And other recent happing in marketing is taken from magazines & news paper.

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Overall this mission has been completed with the combination of all those things & it had

been with the best of my facts & information.

Research methodology refers to search for knowledge. Redman and Mory define research as

a “Systematized effort to gain new knowledge. Research is an academic activity and such the

term should be used in technical sense. According to Clifford Woody, Research comprises

defining and redefining problem, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting,

organizing and evaluating data; making deductions and research conclusions; and at last

carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.

Research is thus an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its

advertisement. It is pursuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and

experiment. In short the search for knowledge through objective and systematic method of

finding solution to problem is research.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A Research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a

manner that aims to combine relevance to the Research purpose with economy in procedure.

In fact the Research design is the conceptual structure within which Research is conducted: it

constitutes the blueprint for the collection measurement and analysis of data.

It must be able to define clearly what they want to measure and must find adequate methods 25

for measuring it along with a clear cut definition of population wants to study. Since the aim

is to obtain complete and accurate information in these studies, the procedure to be used must

be carefully planned. The research design must make enough provision for protection against

bias and must maximize reliability with due concern for the economical completion of the

search study.

Descriptive research is adopted for this study. It includes surveys and fact finding

enquires of different kinds. The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the

state affairs as it exists at present. The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher

has no control over the variables. He can only report what has happened or what is happened.

SAMPLING DESIGN

A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from the sampling frame, it refers to

the technique or procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting some sampling units from

which interferences about the population is drawn. Sampling type used is Simple Random

sampling technique.

POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE

A decision has to be taken concerning sampling unit before selecting sample. The population

for this study includes the employees from Birla Corporation Limited, Satna. 100 employees

were undertaken for the study.

DATA COLLECTION

For achieving the specific objectives of this study, data were gathered from both primary and

secondary sources.

Primary Sources:26

Direct conversation with the employees.

Employee’s opinion towards recruitment and selection procedure of the company.

Secondary Sources:

Various records of the Company.

Different Types of system information.

Different newsletters.

27

CHAPTER-VICHAPTER-VI

DATA ANALYSIS &DATA ANALYSIS &

INTERPRETATIONINTERPRETATION

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

1. Please rank the following features when you buy a new laptop.

a) Look Rank No. of

respondentPercentage

28

1 4 42 16 163 8 84 40 405 4 46 4 47 - -8 12 129 12 12

Look.

14%

216%

38%

440%

54%

64%

70%

812%

912%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Look. It shows that Look is not their first preference, 40% of the respondents have given 4th rank for Look whereas only 4% have given 1st rank for the look.

b) Price:

Rank No. of respondent

Percentage

1 12 42 60 163 8 84 8 8

29

5 - -6 - -7 8 88 4 49 - -

Price

112%

260%

38%

48%

50%60%

78%

84%

90%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Price. It shows that Price is their second preference,60% of the respondents have given 2nd rank for Price, whereas only 12% have given 1st rank for the Price.

c) Maintenance


Percentage

1 4 42 - -3 56 564 16 165 4 46 8 87 - -

30

8 8 89 4 4

Maintenance.

14%

20%

356%

416%

54%

68%

70%

88%

94%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Maintenance. It shows that Maintenance is not their First preference, 56% of the respondents have given 3rd rank for Maintenance, whereas only 4% have given 1st rank for the Maintenance.

d) Company’s service:


Percentage

1 - -2 - -3 - -4 12 125 12 126 12 127 16 16

31

8 44 449 4 4

Company's service.

10%20%30%

412%

512%

612%

716%

844%

94% 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for company service. It shows that company service is not their First preference, 44% of the respondents have given 8th rank for company service, whereas no one has given 1st rank for the company service.

e) Space:


Percentage

1 - -2 - -3 4 44 - -5 40 406 8 8

32

7 4 48 12 129 32 32

Company's service.

10%20%30%

412%

512%

612%

716%

844%

94% 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Space. It shows that Space is not their First preference, 40% of the respondents have given 5th rank for safety , whereas no one has given 1st rank for the safety features.

f) Ready availability:


Percentage

1 - -2 - -3 4 44 - -5 40 406 8 87 4 48 12 12

33

9 32 32

Ready availability.

10%20%

34%

40%

540%

68%

74%

812%

932%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Ready availability.

It shows that Ready availability is not their First preference, 40% of the respondents have given

5th rank for Ready availability, whereas no one has given 1st rank for the Ready availability.

g) Comfort:


Percentage

1 4 42 4 43 4 44 4 45 8 86 20 207 16 168 4 49 36 36

34

Comfort.

14%

24%

34%

44%

58%

620%

716%

84%

936%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Comfort. It shows

that Comfort is not their First preference, 36% of the respondents have given 9th rank for

Comfort, whereas only 4% have given 1st rank for Comfort.

35

2) What is your budget for a new laptop?

Purchasing power of the respondent

Number of respondent

Respondent in Percentage

< Rs. 20000 20 20%Rs. 20000-30000 64 64%> Rs. 30000 16 16%

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 20% of respondents are willing to spend less than Rs. 20000, 64%

of respondents are willing to spend between 20000-30000 rupees and 16% of respondents are

willing to spend more than 30000 rupees.

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3) Which of the following facilities/ services do you except from the dealer?

Facilities / Services No. Of Respondents

Quick service 84

1 Yr Free service 76

Discount on Accessories 12

Home Delivery 8

Installment Payment Facility 72

INTERPRETATION

According to customer preference quick service, 1 Yr Free service and installment payment

facilities are considered to be the most important facility / services from the dealer.

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4) Rank the following in the order of preference:

a) Accer Laptop:


Percentage

1 4 42 4 43 4 44 2 25 4 46 12 127 4 48 2 29 16 1610 48 48

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Accer Laptop. It

shows that Accer Laptop is not their First preference, 48% of the respondents have given

10th rank for Accer Laptop, whereas only 4% have given 1st rank for Accer Laptop.

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b) HP Laptop:


Percentage

1 4 42 4 43 12 124 4 45 12 126 4 47 4 48 8 89 48 4810 - -

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for HP Laptop. It shows that HP Laptop is not their First preference, 48% of the respondents have given 9th rank for HP Laptop, where as only 4% have given 1st rank for HP Laptop.

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c) Dell Laptop:


Percentage

1 64 642 8 83 4 44 8 85 4 46 8 87 4 48 - -9 - -10 - -

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows rank wise percentage of customer’s preference for Dell Laptop. It shows that Dell Laptop is their First preference i.e. 64% of the respondents has given 1st rank for Dell Laptop.

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5) Do you own a laptop?

Response No. of Respondent Respondents in %

Yes 68 68%No 32 32%

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 68% of the respondents are owners of laptops and 32% of re-

spondent have not owned laptops but are prospect buyers.

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8) How did you get to know about a particular laptop?

Awareness No. of respondentPercentage

TV Advertisement 26 38.24Magazines / Newspaper 7 10.29Friends 22 32.35Existing Customers 9 13.24Laptop Finance Companies 4 5.88

INTERPRETATION

The above graph shows that 38% of the respondents came to know about a particular laptop

through TV advertisement and 33% of the respondents came to know about the laptop

through friends.

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CHAPTER-VIICHAPTER-VII

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONSFINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

FINDINGS

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It has been found that:

1. 64% of respondents are willing to spend between 20000-30000 rupees for buying

a new laptop.

2. 1 Yr Free service and installment payment facilities are considered to be the most

important facility / services from the dealer.

3. Dell Laptop is their First preference i.e. 64% of the respondents has given 1st rank

for Dell Laptop.

4. 68% of the respondents are owners of laptops and 32% of respondent have not

owned laptops but are prospect buyers.

5. 38% of the respondents came to know about a particular laptop through TV ad-

vertisement and 33% of the respondents came to know about the laptop through

friends.

SUGGESTIONS

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It is found that in this segment the important features considered by the customers while

buying a laptop are its features, price & maintenance. So manufacturer has to consider

these

aspects to attract and retain customers thus making an effort to build a good brand image.

Discount on accessories also act as influencing factors for purchase decision. So

dealer can give discounts on accessories, after sales for a period of a year or two

to stimulate the customers.

Customers want service at their doorsteps but are unaware of the home delivery

facility provided by the dealers. So a measure has to be taken to create awareness

in this direction.

Most of the customers buy laptops from bank loan rather than financial compa-

nies. So the companies have to come up with attractive loan facilities to their cus-

tomers.

Word of mouth is effective media of communication. Hence the dealer should

keep the existing customers happy by providing good service and make customers

talk good about their service provided.

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CHAPTER-VIIICHAPTER-VIII

LIMITATIONSLIMITATIONS

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LIMITATIONS:

1. Due to time constraints the sample size had to be confirmed to 100.

2. The respondents have replied to the queries recalling from their memory. Therefore recall bias and personal bias are possible.

3. Since the data was collected using a schedule, the interviewer’s inability to understand and record the responses correctly is possible.

4. The respondents were unable or unwilling to give a complete and accurate response to certain questions

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CHAPTER-IXCHAPTER-IX

CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

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Conclusion:

Consumer behavior is the action and decision processes of people who purchase

goods and services for personal consumption. Consumer decision making is influenced

by social, psychological, and personal factors. Social factors are forces exerted by other

people that affect consumer behavior. A social class is a relatively homogeneous and

stable group of people with similar values, attitudes, and behaviors. A role is a set of

functions and activities that a person in a particular position is expected to perform.

Culture is learned values, behaviors, and meaningful symbols shared by members of a

society. A culture is further divided into several subcultures.

Psychological factors are internal forces within people that affect buying decisions. These

factors are motives, perception, learning and personality etc. Motivation research

involves analyzing the major motives that influence buying behavior. Perception is the

process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets information inputs to

create meaning. An attitude is a person’s overall feeling towards some object.

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CHAPTER-XCHAPTER-X

BIBLIOGRAPHYBIBLIOGRAPHY

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Research Methodology : C.S.R. Kothari

Principles of Marketing : Philip Kotler, Prentice Hall of India

Fundamentals of Marketing : William J. Stanton, Mc Graw Hill, New Delhi

Websites:-

1) www.scribd.com 2) Slideshare.com 3) Wikepedia.com

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http://www.scribd.com/

CHAPTER-XICHAPTER-XI

ANNEXUREANNEXURE

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Questionnaire

RESEARCH SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE ON LABOR WELFARE FACILITIES

I am a student of A.P.S University, Rewa pursuing B.B.A. with Marketing Specialization. I am currently doing a survey regarding “A Study of Customer Buying Preference towards Laptops with special reference to Satna city”. Please spend your precious time by filling up this questionnaire. Your feedback will be kept confidential. Your answers are valuable to my research. Thank you for your kind cooperation.

N a m e:______________________________________________

Age:________________________________________________

Sex:________________________________________________

Occupation:__________________________________________

1. Please rank the following features when you buy a new laptop. (Starting from 1 to 9, 1 for the most preferred and 9 for the least preferred)

Look [ ]

Operating system [ ]

Price [ ]

Maintenance [ ]

Company Service [ ]

Storage capacity [ ]

Ready Availability [ ]

Comfort [ ]

2. What is your budget for a new laptop?

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< Rs. 20000 [ ] Rs. 20000-30000 [ ] >Rs. 30000 [ ]

3. Which of the following Facilities/Services do you expect from the dealer?

Quick Service [ ] 1 year free Insurance [ ]

Discount on Accessories [ ] Home Delivery [ ]

Vehicle Registration Process [ ] Installment Payment Facility [ ]

4. Which means of Finance would you prefer?

Employee Loan [ ] Bank Loan [ ]

Laptop Finance Companies [ ] Co-operative Society [ ]

If any other Specify____________________________________________

5. Rank the following in the order of preference. (Starting from 1 to 10, 1 for the most preferred and 10 for the least preferred)

Accer [ ]

HP [ ]

Dell [ ]

Why do you rank the particular laptop as No. 1?

6. Do you own a laptop?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

(If No, skip the below Questions)

7. Do you find any difficulties in your Laptop?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

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If yes, what are they?

Storage [ ]

Maintenance [ ]

Comfort [ ]

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Company Services [ ]

Service [ ]

Battery Backup [ ]

9. Name and dealer of your Previous and Presently Owned laptop.

Name of the laptop: Previous 1____________2____________ Present ___________

Name of the dealer: Previous 1____________ 2 ____________ Present ___________

10. How did you get to know about this Laptop?(Tick any one).

T.V advertisement [ ] Magazines/Newspaper [ ]

Friends [ ] Existing Customers [ ]

Laptop Finance Companies [ ] Any other please specify_____________________

11.Please tick the following attributes of your laptop.

a. Price: Expensive [ ] Reasonable [ ]

b. Style: Stylish [ ] Simple [ ]

c. Comfort: More comfortable [ ] Less comfortable [ ]

d. Maintenance: Expensive [ ] Reasonable [ ]

e. Battery Efficiency: Satisfactory [ ] Not-satisfactory [ ] 12. Given a Second chance which laptop would you buy from the same budget?

13. Please suggest any areas for improvement in your laptop dealer.

Thank you for your Co-operation.

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